Outgoing MP Nathan Cullen joined the Smithers community at Boville Square for a BBQ on Tuesday (Aug 20).
The BBQ is to help raise money for the Northern Society of Domestic Peace.
Each year Cullen puts on four of the BBQ’s in the north for different causes.
When he began as MP he was told to do some BBQ’s but he thought he would do them as a fundraiser.
“I’ve been really proud that for 15 years we’ve done 60 of these across the region and raise 10’s of thousands of dollars for a lot of groups that don’t have a lot of money and don’t have a lot of opportunities to raise money,” he said.
In March, Cullen announced he was resigning after the upcoming election as MP for the Skeena-Bulkley Valley.
Cullen said he wants to thank everyone in the riding who has supported him for the past 15 years.
“I try to start almost every speech I ever did talking about home, talking about Skeena and the Northwest and it was easy to talk about the people here, what we’re up to, our challenges but also the amazing people who live here and the community we create,” said Cullen.
He said there are still some things he wants to do before his time as MP is up. He mentioned fixing the salmon crisis and the forestry crisis and help the next candidate who becomes MP be ready for the task.
In May, it was announced Smithers own Mayor Taylor Bachrach was voted in as the NDP candidate for the federal election.
Cullen offered some advice for Bachrach during the election period.
“Really have your support in place, your family, your community, know that it’s going to take your whole family to support you and appreciate them because they’ll make some sacrifices that the public will never hear about and how important it is,” said Cullen.
The federal election will be held on October 21.